Trump provokes NEW NUCLEAR ARMS RACE AND WAR by pulling out of the 1987 INF treaty that Reagan + Gorbachev signed.

Since 1987 the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty has reduced tensions between the U.S. and Russia and allowed both nations to reduce the danger of nuclear war. Trump pulled out of the INF treaty, so a NEW NUCLEAR ARMS RACE IS LIKELY — and Trump has INCREASED THE LIKELIHOOD OF NUCLEAR WAR. Both the U.S. and Russia want to build new, destabilizing nuclear weapons that are likely to make it more likely for a nuclear war to begin, either intentionally or by mistake or miscalculation or accident.

Here are several good sources of information.  We must push Congress hard to prevent Trump’s extreme stupidity and recklessness from destroying all of us in a nuclear war.

Democracy Now! Reported on this on Mon. Oct. 22. You can watch the TV report and/or read the transcript at the link below. The article begins with this quotation:  “The INF banned all nuclear and non-nuclear missiles with short and medium ranges. The treaty helped to eliminate thousands of land-based missiles. On Saturday, Trump vowed to build new nuclear weapons.”  Here is the link:  https://www.democracynow.org/2018/10/22/counterproductive_and_dangerous_nuclear_arms_race?utm_source=Democracy+Now%21&utm_campaign=d36056a4b8-Daily_Digest_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_fa2346a853-d36056a4b8-191704661

Another good source of information, Counterpunch, posted this news about ditching the INF:  https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/10/22/washingtons-latest-cold-war-maneuver-pulling-out-of-the-inf/

An excellent organization that has been effectively organizing against nuclear weapons for many years (the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance, www.orepa.org, near the nuclear weapons plant in Oak Ridge, Tennessee) posted this new information on Oct. 23, 2018:

The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty is in the news today, for better and/or for worse. Do you know what the INF is? Why the US and Russia have been exchanging accusations of treaty violations for years? Whether President Trump’s declaration is a good thing or a bad thing?  You can read one analysis on OREPA’s web site, here:  http://orepa.org/what-about-the-inf-treaty/

Here is a good 6-minute interview on the dangers of pulling out of IMF treaty and presidential war power:  https://www.msnbc.com/am-joy/watch/trump-presidency-analyzed-by-author-of-new-book-presidents-of-war-1349548099979?v=railb&

Also:  https://www.msn.com/en-gb/video/other/michael-beschloss-joins-joy-reid-on-his-new-book-%E2%80%98presidents-of-war%E2%80%99/vp-BBOGBR6

Experts are alarmed by Trump’s reckless ditching of the 1987 INF treaty signed by Reagan and Gorbachev to reduce the danger of nuclear war.  Trump makes a new Cold War — and nuclear war — more likely.  Since the Cold War era, the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces treaty (INF) has restricted some kinds of nuclear weapons and helped the U.S. and Russia interact more peacefully.  Now Trump wants to ditch that treaty. One expert called Trump’s decision “reckless and stupid,” and others called it “an epic mistake” and “a colossal mistake.”  Another expert said, “By declaring he will leave the INF Treaty, President Trump has shown himself to be a demolition man who has no ability to build real security.”  This article also repeats the widely known news that the Trump regime opposes extending the 2010 New START Treaty, which has been limiting nuclear weapons.  See the article here:  https://truthout.org/articles/experts-alarmed-over-trumps-plan-to-ditch-nuclear-arms-control-treaty/

In a little over 3 minutes my old friend Mary Hanson (with whom I have worked for decades to abolish nuclear weapons) and another expert explain why we must keep the INF.  This video came from Seattle’s KIRO-TV:    https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/trump-s-threat-to-withdraw-from-nuclear-missile-treaty-alarms-activists/857910707

 

 

 

About GlenAnderson 1498 Articles
Since the late 1960s Glen Anderson has devoted his life to working as a volunteer for peace, nonviolence, social justice, and progressive political issues. He has worked through many existing organizations and started several. Over the years he has worked especially for such wide-ranging goals as making peace with Vietnam, eliminating nuclear weapons, converting from a military economy to a peacetime economy, abolishing the death penalty, promoting nonviolence at all levels throughout society, and helping people organize and strategize for grassroots movements to solve many kinds of problems. He writes, speaks, and conducts training workshops on a wide variety of topics. Since 1987 he has produced and hosted a one-hour cable TV interview program on many kinds of issues. Since 2017 he has blogged at https://parallaxperspectives.org He lives in Lacey near Olympia WA. You can reach him at (360) 491-9093 glen@parallaxperspectives.org